Adventures in Aarhus

This is a blog to capture the adventures of Ken, Leysia, Max and Lilja while spending their first sabbatical in Aarhus, Denmark.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

One Year Anniversaries

Three days ago, July 27th, was our one year anniversary of arriving in Denmark. (We missed staying in Denmark for a full year by exactly two weeks.)

Tomorrow, will be my one year anniversary since starting this blog. Over the past year, I created 166 entries (including this one)... the funny thing is, I've got so much I need to catch up on... our trip to Legoland that we took last August for instance (!) or the rest of the farewell parties we had just three short weeks ago.

I'll do my best to catch up and I'm looking forward to continuing this blog!

Enjoy the show!

Ken

Thursday, July 27, 2006

I knew we should have stayed in Denmark...

Check out this story on CNN: Denmark named happiest place. I wonder what Disneyland thinks about this story!

Ken

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Disneyland in 1967

Check out this footage of Disneyland taken in 1967. Pretty cool... the charging rhinos shown during the Jungle Cruise are no more but many of the things shown in the video are still there! (Hmm... and somehow the price for admission keeps going up!)

Enjoy!

Ken

Pan Nordic Logistics

Way to go Pan Nordic Logistics! PNL is the shipping company that the Danish post office uses to offer cheap shipping for medium to large boxes. Of the 24 boxes that we shipped home, 15 have arrived. Only nine to go!

As was the case with shipping stuff to Aarhus, boxes that I shipped later in the game have arrived before boxes that were shipped earlier. For instance, box 23 that I shipped on July 12th, has arrived before box 5 which shipped on July 2nd!

I guess international shipping is not a series of tubes either. Sorry Senator Stevens (R-Alaska), I'm sure your analogy applies to something.

Anyway, PNL is doing a great job of getting our stuff back to us. Box 23 was supposed to take 3-4 weeks to arrive and got here in just under two weeks.

Keep up the good work!

Ken

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Reverse Culture Shock

So, we are starting to get back to “normal” here in Colorado. (As much as our lives can be considered normal.) But, we are definitely experiencing some reverse culture shock coming back to the States after spending a year in Denmark.

  • The cars, here, are way too big! Why do people need so much space in their cars?
  • There are simply too many choices in the grocery stores. We went to Costgo (for my Danish readers, think of Bilka and then multiply its size and selection by 2) the other day and nearly passed out.
  • Everyone is so chatty, telling me Have a Nice Day! about a billion times a day.
  • Gas is ONLY 3 dollars a gallon!


Anyway, if we have these reactions after just one year, I can now get a glimpse of what it must be like for someone who is visiting the States for the first time. Its a bit overwhelming!

Cool Animation

The folks over at the Icon Factory are presenting the best Under Construction animation that I've seen for a website. They are apparently rebuilding their website and have decided to document their progress via the use of slick animation. Note: you will need the QuickTime plug-in for your browser in order to see the animation. Check it out and be sure to view the animation from day 1. They still have four days to go, so check back each day for something new.

Ken

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Ten Things We Miss About Denmark

1. Our Friends

This year was wonderful because we had a chance to further develop existing friendships with Niels Olof, Susanne, and Kaj, but we also got to experience the joy of making new friendships, especially with Katrine and her family, Anne Marit, Klaus, and their family, Martin and his family, Christina and her family, and with Stinne and her husband, Jesper. I am hopelessly far behind writing about the good times that we have had with all of these people. I intend to catch up and post pictures and info as time permits! Both L. and I feel that we had “the time of our lives" this year in Aarhus and that was in no small part due to these friends and the other amazing people we met this past year.

2. The Beautiful Surroundings

Denmark is a beautiful country. Lots of trees, lots of green grass, beautiful towns, ocean views (well, near the coast of course). There are forests to the south of Aarhus that are so lush, they have to be seen to be believed.

3. The Slower Pace

Life in the staes is frenetic. Its very easy to be sucked into the fast pace, always being busy, never having time for family, friends, or even quiet reflection about life. The opposite is true in Denmark. Its very easy to have a measured approach to life as most people work the same hours and full time work is considered 37 hours a week with 5-6 weeks of vacation each year, nearly all families have dinner together each night (when I tried to explain that having dinner together is a problem for a lot of families in the states, most Danes had trouble even understanding the concept!), and the stores close early, meaning that you can't push errands into the early and late evening as Americans often will. When we first arrived in Denmark, all of this grated against our American sensibilities… over the year we grew to love it, and L. and I are laying the foundation for a slower pace to our lives here in Boulder, using some of the habits and tricks we picked up over the past year.

4. Our Work

L. and I will always remember our time spent at DAIMI, the computer science department of the University of Aarhus. L. had an incredibly productive year working with Morten Kyng, Susanne Bødker, and their students. I got to “live a dream” and work with Kaj Grønbæk and Niels Olof Bouvin and their students. We picked up a trick or two learning from the work that goes on here and we were able to provide feedback and perhaps influence a project or two.

5. Bodøgården

We will never forget Bodøgården, the pre-school that Max and Lilja attended during our year in Denmark. The teachers were top notch and worked very hard to make sure that Max and Lilja smoothly integrated with the other children there. Throughout the year, they took the kids on field trips, to birthday parties, and to cultural events. They helped them make crafts and sing songs and gave them environment where it was okay to “just have fun” and “be a kid”!

It was amazing to watch Max pick up Danish over the year. Mette, in particular, worked hard with Max to teach him the language, going so far as to apply for funding to learn how to use a particular training program and then applying it with Max by working with him on a weekly basis. At first, Max had memorized phrases and simple words, then simple sentences, and then his skills in conversational Danish grew by leaps and bounds. I remember sitting next to Max as he watched a Christmas special and he looks up at L. and I and says “Good thing that some of this show is in English, so you can understand!” And, we had to say, “Max this whole show is in Danish…” More recently, Max's skill with Danish was such that any Dane could converse with him in Danish and they would look at us and say “He just understands everything…” and during our second to last week that we were in Denmark, Max helped me in a somewhat sticky situation. He and I were in the car and I was trying to turn right but the street was partially blocked by a road barrier. A policeman was standing in the middle of the street and so I rolled down my window to ask if it was okay to go around the barrier. The policeman starts yelling at me in Danish, and I didn't know what to do. I was about to go on, when Max says from the back seat, “He says you can turn right!”. So, Max could function as a translator by the time we left!

Max and Lilja grew quite attached to their friends and teachers at Bodøgården and we had several opportunities to thank the teachers before we left. I'll be posting pictures of Max and Lilja saying farewell to Bodøgården and the people there soon.

6. Our Apartment

After a year of living in our Apartment at Observatorievejen, it really started to feel like home. Upon reflection, this feeling grew out of the fact that the slower pace of life and the intense focus on family that Danish culture enables provide a lot of memories that are centered around your home. Our apartment was spacious (even by American standards), was well furnished, and was surrounded by beautiful gardens, trees, and fields (not to mention a horse track, an observatory, and a royal palace!).

7. Our Walks

From our apartment, we could walk to Tivoli, the Queen's Palace, the Botanical Gardens, Mindeparken (a large memorial park in honor of World War One), and the sea. When weather permitted, we would take walks with the kids to these locations. L. especially liked taking the kids to the botanical gardens, where she could let them run free without having to worry about cars or bikes. I enjoyed taking the kids to Tivoli, where we could easily spend a day riding the rides, playing minature golf, having lunch and ice cream, watching shows, and enjoying the obstacle course, the playgrounds, and the activities in Tivoli's water park. We had some great times!

8. The Sights

Over the year, we travelled to many beautiful and interesting places including Skagen, Copenhagen, Ribe, Esbjerg, and Fanø. We attended many interesting Danish cultural events, saw several interesting museums, saw the royal palace in Copenhagen and posed for pictures in front of the little mermaid. It was fun watching Max take all of this in and become more aware of the world around him. For instance, he is now completely comfortable with the idea that there are other countries in this world and that people speak different languages. Whereas if we had stayed in the states, he's understanding of these concepts would be much less concrete and he'd still be at the stage of just understanding that the United States consists of multiple states.

9. Downtown

We had some good times visiting the city center of Aarhus. We enjoyed the local sights, such as the Aros museum, city hall, the viking museum located underneath a bank, the train station, etc. But, we also enjoyed coming downtown for shopping on the pedestrian mall and at Bruun's Galleri. The kids and I enjoyed going to the local “D&D” stores, the Dragon's Lair and the Goblin's Gate. Max and I would pick up Duel Master and Pokemon trading cards (Max loves both of those games) and I would pick up a board game or two that I could play with Max (and sometimes Lilja). We enjoyed getting ice cream downtown and looking at the cathedral, or visiting Bo Bendixen's store. Aarhus has a lot to offer and while we didn't take advantage of everything, the city center was certainly an integral part of our Aarhus experience.

10. The Wonderful Bread

Last but not least, and this may sound a little strange, we are going to miss the wonderful bread and pasteries that are available in Danish bakeries (and heck even their supermarkets). The worst bread in Denmark is still ten times better than, say, an average quality bread here in the states. The best bread in Denmark is light years ahead of the best bread in the USA. (We won't even think about the worst bread in the states. This is a family blog after all.)

Thank you, Denmark, for an amazing year away from home! We will never forget it!

Ken

Miles Meets One Set of Grandparents

Here are pictures of Miles meeting his grandparents on L.'s side. He'll meet my parents in California in less than a month when the five of us fly out to attend my sister's wedding. My mom can't wait to meet Miles and, as a result, its been tough for her to view all of the pictures on this blog showing other people holding him!

Miles Meets Nonni

Miles Meets Poppi

Sorry Mom!

Ken

Smiles

Here are two photos showing why Miles has picked up the nickname "Smiles".

Smiles, Part 1

Smiles, Part 2

Enjoy,

Ken

A Cute Implosion

This past Monday, reality almost imploded in the presence of too much cuteness in one place. Addie and Lilja, cousins separated by just six months, walked hand-in-hand through a shopping mall located close to our new apartment. They were considered extremely cute by all relatives present at the time.

Lilja and Addie At the Mall

It has been great to see how easily Lilja and Addie picked up their friendship again after not seeing each other for six months and not really playing together for an entire year. (That's a significant percentage of both of their lives!)

Here's a video of the two of them walking side by side.



Enjoy,

Ken

A Return to Civilization

Today, a high-speed Internet connection was installed. It took some work but I was then able to broadcast that connection wirelessly via my Airport Express. I'm now sitting on the couch, preparing to write some new blog entries, happy to at last have returned to a civilized state! :-)

Ken

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Our Bags Made It!

Unfortunately, I still don't have time to write about our journey home in detail. (Yesterday was consumed with running errands in preparation for moving our stuff out of storage today.) But, I do have time to reveal that we arrived in Denver without five of our bags (the ones with all of our clothes and toiletries, you know, the essentials)! United filled us with confidence when they told us that they were “pretty sure” that our bag were in Chicago. So, we filed a claim, gave them our address, and headed to our hotel. We called on Friday morning to learn that three of the bags had arrived and now United was “pretty sure” that our remaining two bags had been given to another airline to allow them to get to Denver later that morning.

Well, I'm pleased to report that in the afternoon all five bags were delivered to our hotel and we were able to change into a fresh pair of clothes!

I will, hopefully, have more time to write on Sunday, so stay tuned!

Ken

Friday, July 14, 2006

We Made It!

Just a quick post to say that we arrived in Boulder CO last night on July 13th at 8:20 PM which was 4:20 AM, July 14th in Aarhus!

I'll post more details about our trip as soon as I can. For now, I'm stuck watching movies with Lilja at 3:00 AM, because her body is telling her that its actually 11 AM. :-)

Ken

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Farewell Denmark!

Today, we leave Denmark to return to the states. It is both a happy and sad time. We have had the time of our lives here this past year in Aarhus and we leave with so many memories.

We have learned a lot and had our cultural perspectives shifted a bit (for the better). We have made many new friends and have experienced many wonderful things, not the least of which was watching Max become proficient in the Danish language. We have many ties here both professional and personal and so today is not "good bye" but, rather, farewell, we will see you again!

We return to Boulder to pick up our life there and to see family and friends again so that we can tell them about what we learned. If you have never seen Boulder, here's a picture to tempt you to visit!

(click on picture to view it in full size)


When we leave our apartment this morning at 8 AM, it will be midnight in Denver. We won't arrive in Denver until 8:15 PM which is 20 hours and 15 minutes later!

So, think good thoughts for us while we face three flights with three kids, three car seats, countless bags, and a stroller!

We will miss you Denmark.

Farewell,

Ken

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Miles: One Month Old

Miles Cooling His Jets

Miles turned one month old today and I thought it would be good to publish a status report. He is now 5 kg, which is 11 pounds. He has earned a new nickname, smiles, because he now occasionally favors us with a very cute smile and he just started reliably tracking the person who is in front of him. Here is a shot of Miles being weighed today by the nurse that came to check on him today. (The third time she has come since Miles was born!)

Miles Gets Weighed

Over the past month, he has endeared himself to me by falling asleep on my shoulder nearly every time I hold him! And, it has become quite evident that Miles is a sweet and gentle soul and we love having him as part of the family!

Lilja and Max dote on him every day and Lilja, in particular, loves talking to him. If he cries in her presence, she runs to him and says "Miles, I right here..." or "My Miles" or "Miles sleeping?" and the like. She also is very interested in classifying toys as either belonging to her or Miles (Max apparently is not allowed to own anything) and, in some cases, I've heard her say "This is Miles's toy but I play with it."

That's it for now!

Ken

A Happy Moment

Lilja and Mama

Here's a great shot of L. and Lilja together. It was taken by a friend of ours during the party we had this past Saturday. I'll post more about that party later... in the meantime enjoy this photo!

Ken

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Margit's Party

Margit and Jørgen's House

The second farewell party that we attended was held by Margit Kristensen and her husband, Jørgen. It was attended by people who either supported or went with L. to study Hurricane Katrina last Fall. The party was simply wonderful: beautiful surroundings, good company, and excellent food. Thanks so much Margit and Jørgen!

More photos here: Margit's Party photo set

Enjoy!

Ken

Friday, July 07, 2006

Farewell Parties

In the last few posts, I've mentioned the phrase "farewell party" several times. This is no coincidence since we have less than one week remaining in Denmark! By this time next week, we'll be back in Colorado. :-(

Fear not, the Adventures in Aarhus blog will continue! The title will simply refer to our "state of mind" rather than our physical location. Aarhus has certainly left its imprint on us... we will never forget the experiences we've had and the friends we made while living here!

Tomorrow, we host our own farewell party here at the apartment. We've invited about 30 or so friends to come and enjoy some American desserts (cookies, brownies, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and carrot cake) with us, to give us one last chance to say good bye and have some fun! Ilene and L. have been cooking like crazy these past few days!!! Stay tuned for pictures!

To round out this post, let me note for the record that we have also been packing like crazy; L. has done an excellent job of getting our suitcases packed... we are almost, but not quite, living out of them. I have been busy getting everything that can't fit in the suitcases into boxes and shipping them off. I mailed the 15th package today and it looks like I'll be taking at least five more boxes to the post office before I'm done! We only shipped six boxes to Aarhus, so it appears that we didn't do a good job of not acquiring stuff while living here!

But that's life! At least we're having fun!

Ken

Inga's Party

Inga's Party

Inga Pedersen, a teacher at Lilja's pre-school in Aarhus, invited us over for a farewell party on July 4th. So, while we didn't celebrate U.S. Independence Day this year, we DID go to a party. (July 4th is just another day here in Denmark!) Inga is also the woman who saved our bacon by coming over to our apartment at 1 AM on June 11th to watch Max and Lilja when L. went into labor with Miles.

We arrived at Inga's lovely home (and garden) at around 3:30 PM and Inga spoiled us by making delicious waffles topped with a hazelnut chocolate sauce and ice cream! The kids then played in the yard either making stuff with Lego bricks or shooting Papa with water guns that Inga supplied.

Inga then lit up her grill and cooked up the salmon fillets that we had picked up at the fish market down at the harbor and followed that with chicken and pølse (think sausage). Everything tasted wonderful!

We finished by taking pictures of Inga with Miles and Lilja. Inga and Lilja grew quite close this year, so it was good that they had a chance to spend some one-on-one time!

Tusind Tak Inga!

Ken

Up a tree...

Up a tree...

One of the best features of the yard of the house that hosted the farewell party is this amazingly huge tree. Max had a lot of fun climbing it and eventually coaxed Papa into the tree with him.

Max the Warrior

Max the Warrior

At the party last night, Max found a stick that made a very good spear. Here's a picture of our very proud warrior. (Doesn't he know that he's not supposed to point spears at Papa?)

Quiet Beauty

Quiet Beauty

Here's a great shot of Lilja, taken at an amazing farewell party that we attended last night.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Miles, Week 3

Interactive Spaces 3

The relentless lobbying of a certain grandmother in California has payed off: I'm pleased to announce the creation of a new photo set containing pictures of Miles during his third week on this planet!

Enjoy!

Ken

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Max On The Stairs


Max On The Stairs, originally uploaded by kenbod.

This picture of Max was taken at Bodøgården on the day of his "graduation". I have a lot more photos (and videos) from that day to post, but I decided I wanted to get this picture of our little heartbreaker on the blog as fast as possible!

Enjoy!

Ken

Max thrown out of School

Here is a short video showing a tradition of Max's pre-school, Bodøgården, in which kids leaving Bodøgården for Danish Grade 0 (Kindergarden) are "thrown out" of school through a piece of paper with their image on it. The movie begins with Max attempting to dodge a kiss from Dorte, and then Mette and Dorte pick him up and throw him out!



Enjoy,

Ken